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ComputorEdge™ Online — 08/09/13

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PCs Versus Tablets

Some are predicting the coming demise of the PC. Can it be true?

Magazine Summary

List of ComputorEdge Sponsors

Digital Dave

by Digital Dave

Digital Dave answers your tech questions.

Annoying FLV Player Download Pop-ups; Charging iPods, iPads, Etc.; Outlook 2007 Won't Open after iPad/iPhone Syncing.

PCs Versus Tablets

by Jack Dunning

Predictions of the Doom of Desktop and Laptop Computers Are Misguided

Despite the media hype about tablets replacing PCs, people are not dumping their computers anytime soon.

New Windows Address Book App

by Jack Dunning

A Barebones Address Book App That Puts Formatted Addresses in Any Document and Sends E-mails

Based upon the To-Do List app built with the AutoHotkey ListView, the Address Book app takes is one (or two) steps further.

Wally Wang's Apple Farm

by Wally Wang

The Insanity of Advertising

The Insanity of Advertising; The iPhone Saves T-Mobile; The Death of Bento; Getting Ready for iOS 7; Measuring with an iPhone or iPad; 3D Printers at UPS Stores in San Diego; Update Your Router's Firmware.

Beyond Personal Computing: Genealogy

by Marilyn K. Martin

Genealogy: Do You Really Want to Know What Your Ancestors Were up to?

Amusing anecdotes about genealogy

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

by ComputorEdge Staff

Computer and Internet tips, plus comments on the articles and columns.

"Negative Zero," "Drives and Backups Windows Explorer Mystery," "Power Outage Problems for M. Morgan," "System and File Backups"

Send mail to ceeditor@computoredge.com with questions about editorial content.

Send mail to webmaster@computoredge.com with questions or comments about this Web site.

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Digital Dave

“Digital Dave answers your tech questions.”
by Digital Dave

Annoying FLV Player Download Pop-ups; Charging iPods, iPads, Etc.; Outlook 2007 Won't Open after iPad/iPhone Syncing.

Annoying FLV Player Download Pop-ups

Dear Digital Dave,

My computer has been infected by some program that generates full page pop-up windows telling me to install FLV Player. It happens so often that I can hardly use Internet Explorer any more. I tried Firefox, but the same thing happens. I used System Restore to return my computer to an earlier configuration, but it couldn't go back far enough. Full system scans by Avast! Antivirus found nothing. What do I do now?

Don Hicke

San Diego, CA

Dear Don,

These types of pop-ups are caused primarily by programs which get inadvertently installed. Since it will look like a regular program to the antivirus software, it won't be highlighted as a problem. There are two basic steps to eliminating the problem.

First, check the add-ons and extensions for your browsers. If you see anything you didn't intentionally install, disable and/or remove it—if possible. But this may not be enough. If the add-ons are installed by a program on your computer, then they may come back.

You may need to investigate your installed software through Control Panel => Programs => Programs and Features (Add or Remove Programs in Windows XP). If you find any unusual programs (especially ones with names similar to any unwanted extensions), uninstall them.

Sometime the Windows Uninstall program is not enough and will leave remnants behind. The free download CCleaner has an uninstall feature in its Tools section, see Figure 1, and may do a better job.

Figure 1. The free version of CCleaner includes features for uninstalling programs.

According to reviews, the free IObit Uninstaller stacks up well against what is often considered one of the best, the paid Revo Uninstaller.

Digital Dave

Charging iPods, iPads, Etc.

Dear Digital Dave,

Our household has two iPads, an iPod 5, a Kindle Fire, Sansa Fuze, and a few others. The iPad 3 came with a 10-Watt adapter for 110v, the iPad 4 came with a 12-Watt adapter, and the Apple sales tech told me it was OK to use the 10-Watt adapter for the iPod. I use a 5-Watt adapter for the Kindle and Sansa. None of the devices came with information about the wattage recommended for charging. How critical is this and would I be harming a device if I, for instance, used the 12-watt adapter for all devices?

Also I am considering buying an iHome dock, but cannot find any info on the packaging or at Amazon regarding wattage output. Please help.

Jim Kuntz

Carlsbad, CA

Dear Jim,

It is possible to do damage to a device if it is not built to handle higher power levels than the charger which comes with it. Also, depending upon the design of the charging circuits, if a device is exposed to higher level of charging power than required it may affect the life of the battery. As a rule I would generally use the charging adapter which comes with the hardware. However, there are certain exceptions.

If the USB charger delivers the same or a lower level of power than the charger provided with the device, then it should be safe to use, although the charging time will be longer.

If you don't mind the longer charging time, you should be able to plug any device into the USB port of a computer and recharge it. For example, when plugging in an iPad to a computer, it may indicate that it is not charging at all, but it is—however slowly. The USB ports offer a relatively low level of power compared to charging adapters, but they will still deliver power at the proper voltage.

Another exception is the Apple 12-Watt adapter which is designed to work with other Apple products requiring a lower power level. If the charger senses a non-12-watt Apple device it automatically adjusts to the appropriate level. If it doesn't recognize the device (Android?), then it will adjust to its lowest level 5-Watts. This should be safe for virtually any device—although not guaranteed. Some non-Apple devices may charge at slower rate than using this charger provided.

Another option is the PowerGen Dual USB 3.1A 15w Travel Wall Charger which includes both Apple and non-Apple ports (different power levels available). The 15-watts is shared between the two ports which means charging times may be slower when both ports are in use. However, in most cases there will be plenty of power. While it is compatible with many non-Apple devices (Amazon Kindle, Kindle Fire, and Samsung Galaxy Tab), it does not work with everything (HP TouchPads, ASUS Transformers, Motorola Xooms or the Blackberry Playbook). See "Review: PowerGen USB Dual Port 3.1A 15W Travel Wall Charger."

I couldn't find any specific power levels for the iHome docks, but if they are compatible with a wide range of Apple products, then they will need to include the same type of protections as the Apple 12-Watt charger.

The main hassle will be keeping track of the various USB cables needed for all the different connectors found on the different devices, most Apple.

Digital Dave

Outlook 2007 Won't Open after iPad/iPhone Syncing

Dear Digital Dave,

I have an HP laptop with Windows 7 with Outlook 2007. I purchased an iPad 2 last December and have been syncing it and my iPhone to my laptop ever since. After syncing it this time and going to my laptop, Outlook will not open. I tried another laptop and now it does the same thing. Please help. You have helped me before and I thank you again.

Jim White

Spokane, WA

Dear Jim,

Something has obviously changed since the previous time you synced. It is probably associated with an update to Apple iTunes. There is currently a push for Apple device users to sync to iCloud, Apple's Internet storage. It may be that you now need to upgrade to iCloud Control Panel 2.1.2 for Windows.

Keep in mind that this is merely a guess on my part. Windows users have often encountered problems with Microsoft products when using iTunes to sync devices with a computer. In some cases, uninstalling iTunes solved the problem. At other times, a System Restore fixed the issue as it removed a recent iTunes update. Since it is happening on more than one laptop, I would suspect that it is related to a change in the Apple software.

If uninstalling iTunes returns the use of Outlook, then you know that you're on the right track, although I might try upgrading the iCloud Control Panel first. Perhaps someone else who has recently encountered this or a similar problem can give us some insight.

Digital Dave

PCs Versus Tablets

“Predictions of the Doom of Desktop and Laptop Computers Are Misguided”
by Jack Dunning

Despite the media hype about tablets replacing PCs, people are not dumping their computers anytime soon.

Full scale war is raging between PCs and tablets—at least in the press. We see headlines such as "Welcome to the post-PC world: Tablet sales to overtake desktops, laptops" and "PC Obsolescence In Action: Users Who Own Smartphones And Tablets Are Dropping Their PC Usage." This makes for interesting articles, but the problem is it's a phony war. The writers only occasionally put the two markets in both a historical and economic perspective. While there is overlap in the two high-tech markets, there is plenty of evidence that they are much more compatible with each other than they are predatory. While sales of tablets are growing rapidly right now, the PC is not going away anytime soon.

The Myth of the Death of the PC

The first myth is that the sales of PCs are in rapid decline. The problem is that sales numbers are generally quotes based upon year over year sales. That means that if sales of PCs this month are the same or less than the same month last year, the market is considered in decline—or stagnant at best. This completely disregards the actual number of computers sold. According to Gartner, in the second quarter of this year 76,000,986 PCs were shipped as opposed to 85,324,591 for the same period in 2012. That's a drop year over year of about 11%.

It's stated that "if this trend continues the consequences for the PC will be dire!" This is the problem with much of the reporting and how many people view trends. Two points in time are graphed and a straight line is drawn from one to the other, then on into the indefinite future. The assumption is that the one-year trend represents an accurate picture of the future. In hard numbers, 76,000,986 PCs represents over 300 million PCs this year. That's still a lot of computers going into businesses and homes!

As for the drop in PC sales from last year, as I discussed a couple of weeks ago in "Windows 8.1 Preview", that temporary slowdown can be attributed to the poor economy, the poor reception of Windows 8, and people owning older computers which both still work and are good enough to keep using—a huge number of them Windows XP computers. (Even Apple Macs have shown a recent year over year drop—down 5% in June.) The PC market is a mature, saturated market, not unlike the automobile industry. Just as with cars, most of the people who might buy a computer already own one.

A few years ago, there were dire predictions that the automobile industry was about to collapse and disappear due to slumping sales from the poor economy. That was the reason given for the government bailouts taken by most car companies—except Ford. Admittedly those were tough times and something needed to be done (many argue that letting the automobile companies go through regular bankruptcy would have been more productive), but today business is booming. Why? Because people still need cars and eventually started buying again.

During tough times people can afford to postpone purchases when they have a current automobile that runs good enough. But eventually, as times improve and the car gets older, those people come back into the market and buy new. That's what's happening now. However, it would be silly to assume that the current year over year growth of the cars sales will continue forever at the same rate. At some point, there will be another slowdown. That's what happens in mature markets.

While PC sales may be in a minor slump right now, it doesn't spell any type of doom. At some point computer users will decide that they want the newer, faster hardware or that Windows 8 probably isn't all that bad—which is isn't.

The Myth of Future Tablet Dominance

The tablet computer is not yet in a mature saturated market. Looking at year over year increases in the sales of tablet computers there is no doubt that it is currently a growing trade. It's not unlike the early days of the PC when the market grew at 25% per year—an astounding rate. It was then predicted that someday everyone would own a computer. Now they do.

"The latest Strategy Analytics figures, covering the second quarter of this year, show that 51.7 million tablets were shipped globally over the past three months." This phenomenal sales growth is supposed to prove that tablets are destroying PCs. "At the same time PC shipments are falling through the floor; Gartner's latest figures for the same period show that only 76 million traditional computers shipped over the last three months and, if the two trends continue at the same rate, in less than a year the tablet will have all but replaced the PC for many users." If the two trends continue...

The entire point is that the two trends will not continue as they are now. They never do—unless there is real obsolescence, as in the case of the buggy whip. Tablets are in the earliest part of their product life cycle which includes unbelievable explosive growth—just as there was for the PC in the 1980s. People who assume that the early rapid growth of new products will continue without abatement are fooling themselves. Eventually the market matures (everyone who wants one, owns one) and the sale of the no longer new merchandise becomes subject to the same market cycles as other mature products.

There is no doubt the tablets have taken over some of the work of PCs (e.g. visiting Facebook), but there is little evidence to support the idea the people are completely dumping their laptops and desktop computers. They may use them a little less, but the PCs remain the computer of choice for serious applications.

PCs for Serious Computing

Look to college students for the trends of the future. "PCs outsell tablets in college dorms: Why the lowly computer remains the big gadget on campus." While tablets are light and convenient, they do not suffice as the education tool of choice. "Unless you're shooting for a degree in Angry Birds, tablets are a horrible back-to-school

purchase," says Louis Ramirez, senior features writer on DealNews.com. "You can't write a 10-page research paper with an iPad."

It's true that almost anything that you do on a PC, you can do with a tablet computer—especially if you add a physical keyboard. But, do you really want to go through the hassle and aggravation of turning your tablet into a makeshift laptop? Apparently most students don't want to do that. It's unlikely that many other people will want to actually banish their PCs just because they happen to own a tablet.

When watching television (which I do on an actual television) I occasionally have the urge to look up information (mostly trivia) on the Web. It's much easier to turn on the iPad, than it is to boot up a computer. When viewing the latest photos, it's easier to show them (and pass around) on a tablet, than force everyone to huddle around a desktop computer. The tablet certainly has its place and serves that purpose well, but it is not the best for the more involved tasks. Even something as simple as sending an e-mail can be problematic on a tablet—especially if the e-mail has any length or attachments are needed.

The tablet computer augments the PC, relieving it (and its user) of some simple uses. It does not replace the PC unless all its owner ever does on a computer is surf the Internet.

The New Emergence of the Television

Now that we can watch Netflix and other streaming services on our smartphones and tablets, the need for the PC as an entertainment device may be waning. "As the proliferation of smartphones continues to skyrocket, device owners are more and more eschewing their PCs, opting instead to use their smartphones as their primary Internet device." It does seem that people may opting to watch Internet streaming services on smartphones and tablets more than computers, but that change in behavior can't be applied to the television.

"At the same time that Ofcom notes the influence of tablets on multitasking in TV consumption, it also points out that in fact the proportion of people watching the 'main' TV in the house has actually gone up, to 91% compared to 87% in 2012." Now that there are multiple ways to access Internet services with the larger television screens (Netflix and other video streaming services), the television is taking on new life and again is the center of family entertainment. When viewing videos, size does matter. Unless there is no alternative, few people prefer to watch a movie or other entertainment on a tablet (much less a smartphone) rather than a big screen hi-def TV.

Each with a Niche of Its Own

Each type of high-tech device has its own purpose and market niche. The smartphone allows you to make calls and look up directions to restaurants, but without the phone call feature it would merely be a tiny tablet computer.

The tablet computer is not particularly suitable as a phone device. The percentage of tablets with a mobile Internet package is low and dropping. That means people are using them with Wi-Fi and not making many phone calls with them. (A person would look pretty silly holding a tablet computer to his ear.) Yet, the touchscreen and larger display makes the tablet preferable to the smartphone for streaming video and browsing the Web.

Although much more powerful and versatile, the PC is more cumbersome than a tablet. Even laptops can be a little awkward when in an undersized airplane seat. Yet, for performance, it gives us everything we need without adding a funky keyboard. When I need a PC, I wouldn't think of using a tablet.

Nothing beats watching a good movie on a big screen TV, except maybe going to a theatre to see it in 3D. (Even that depends upon who you're sitting next to.) The point is that none of these pieces of high-tech equipment are going away. While they may have impact on each other and overlap in use, each is its own market and will thrive in the coming years. Warnings of the coming downfall of the PC are greatly exaggerated—and absolutely wrong.

The Coming Growth of the PC Market

Despite some setbacks and a poor economy, the PC market is set to rebound. Just like the automobile market of a few years age, PCs are going through a slight down period. "Still, a reality check: more than 300 million PCs are expected to be shipped this year globally. That is a lot of widgets for a business that has caught a cold." The pent up demand will break loose when people decide it's time to get the latest fastest hardware, or they come to conclusion that Windows 8 isn't all that bad, or their Windows XP computer gives out its last gasp.

Consumer surveys show that the percentage of people planning to buy a new PC is going up. "Almost 23% of survey respondents said they were "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to purchase "portable PC" within the next year—an increase from the 17% the survey found the previous year."

When deciding whether to buy a smartphone, tablet computer, or PC (desktop or laptop), the answer depends on how you will use it. Some people will find that they need the convenience of a smartphone, while other may only require the use of a Wi-Fi tablet. Most people will continue to own some form of a PC (laptop or desktop, Windows, Mac, or Linux), if only for those times when they want something that does a better job than a tablet. Many people will own all three—keeping each in its place. And who doesn't want a hi-def television, if only to watch their Netflix while twiddling with their smartphone or tablet.

Jack is the publisher of ComputorEdge Magazine. He's been with the magazine since first issue on May 16, 1983. Back then, it was called The Byte Buyer. His Web site is www.computoredge.com. He can be reached at ceeditor@computoredge.com. Jack is now in the process of updating and compiling his hundreds of articles and columns into e-books. Currently available:

Just Released! Hidden Windows Tools for Protecting, Problem Solving and Troubleshooting Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP Computers.

Jack's A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey, Absolutely the Best Free Windows Utility Software Ever!: Create Power Tools for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 and Digging Deeper Into AutoHotkey.

Our second compilation of stupid ComputorEdge cartoons from 2011 and 2012 is now available at Amazon! That Does Not Compute, Too! ComputorEdge Cartoons, Volume II: "Do You Like Windows 8 or Would You Prefer an Apple?"

Currently only at Amazon.com, Jack's Favorite Free Windows Programs: What They Are, What They Do, and How to Get Started!.

Available from Amazon, Misunderstanding Windows 8: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Windows 8! Also available at Barnes and Noble and ComputorEdge E-Books.

Available exclusively from Amazon, Windows 7 Secrets Four-in-One E-Book Bundle,

Getting Started with Windows 7: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Using Windows 7,

Sticking with Windows XP—or Not? Why You Should or Why You Should Not Upgrade to Windows 7,

and That Does Not Compute!, brilliantly drawn cartoons by Jim Whiting for really stupid gags by Jack about computers and the people who use them.

New Windows Address Book App

“A Barebones Address Book App That Puts Formatted Addresses in Any Document and Sends E-mails”
by Jack Dunning

Based upon the To-Do List app built with the AutoHotkey ListView, the Address Book app takes is one (or two) steps further.

It was over a year ago when I wrote my first AutoHotkey article, "A Look at the Power of AutoHotkey." I didn't know at the time that I would become obsessed with the Windows scripting language's power and ease of use. Not only have I implemented many small AutoHotkey Windows apps (often simple one-line scripts), but it's been a lot of fun doing things which are awkward with Windows alone. Since that first article, I've chronicled my journey learning AutoHotkey in ComputorEdge and passed along many tips and tricks in my columns, eventually including them in my e-books. I also have an extensive list of demonstration scripts available for free download at the ComputorEdge AutoHotkey Dropbox site. (You can download a brief explanation of each of the posted scripts (AutoHotkey Script Index) with links to the original articles or columns from the same site in EPUB (iPad, NOOK, etc.) and MOBI (Amazon Kindle) e-book formats, as a PDF, or a text file.) If you're not familiar with AutoHotkey, then the current columns may seem daunting, but remember it took me over a year to get here. They are built on the early baby steps which appear in both the earlier columns and the e-books. If you like logic brainteasers and crossword puzzles, then you will find making your Windows computer easier to use an entertaining proposition.

As I explore the power of the AutoHotkey ListView Graphic User Interface (GUI), which is similar in operation and function to the Windows Explorer file list window, I keep getting more ideas for possible applications. Below is the beginning of a functional address book for my favorite people which works with multiple programs. It's currently capable of adding formatted addresses to documents and sending e-mails to people in the book, but I have plans for calculating ages and other quick add-on features. I also have a concept for a barebones calorie counter and an AutoHotkey app control panel for which the ListView AutoHotkey control is ideally suited. There is plenty more to learn in the next few weeks.

As I mentioned, unless readers have been following along from the beginning or they are already familiar with writing scripts of any type, I don't expect that everyone will understand what I address here. However, if you are motivated to get the most out of your Windows computer, ComputorEdge has some beginner's AutoHotkey Web pages and I've written a couple of newbie AutoHotkey e-books which start with simple, but immediately useful, AutoHotkey techniques building up your own knowledge base bit by bit.

For the past couple of weeks we've worked with a ListView in the To-Do List app which only contains one column, but much of the power of this AutoHotkey Graphic User Interface (GUI) comes through adding columns in each row. This also means adding a little more complication to understanding how ListView works.

My enthusiasm for the ListView GUI control hasn't dampened. I definitely plan to get back to the To-Do List app to add reminders similar to those in the Reminder app. Plus I realize now that the Sort option in ListView can be used to index a file of terms or phrases, then rewrite that file in alphabetical order. After I finish with the lessons from Address Book (this week's and next week's topic), I plan to dig right into a quick and dirty calorie counter. For that we will use some of the file structures introduced this week.

If you've just joined us, then to understand how this Address Book app is structured, you may want to look back at how the To-Do List app came together in the previous columns "A Daily To-Do List Windows App" and "Improvements on the To-Do List App." The Address Book app uses the same row structure as To-Do List and any many of the same subroutines, but now adds a number of new columns. (Only the changes significant to the new Address Book script and a couple of new tips are discussed in this column. For other details see the previous columns.) By using ListView for the Address Book app, adding new features for formatting and adding frequently used addresses to any document or Web editing page is easy. Plus, a feature for opening the default e-mail program and sending an e-mail to someone in the Address Book is a snap.

How the Address Book App Works

The Address Book script (AddressBook.ahk) creates a simple address book. The ListView from last week's To-Do List app is now replaced with a series of columns in each row (see Figure 1). A row is one address book entry with nine columns for last name, first name, e-mail address, telephone number, street address, city, state, zipcode and birthday. There is nothing unusual about the list and it could easily be changed to suit your needs.

Figure 1. In the Address Book app each row has nine columns.

By putting last name first the automatic sorting option of ListView makes it easy to keep the data in alphabetical order. Also, the first column, Last Name, is immediately available for editing within the row without moving it to the editing field.

The same editing field at the bottom of the window is used to input data. What's new is the data items (columns) need to be separated by commas in order to place each item in the right field. The comma is not the most convenient delimiter for the columns since they may appear in an address, but this is a temporary solution until a proper input window is added. For now, it is important to only place commas between the data items (and add an extra comma for blank data items). Otherwise, the data may fall into the wrong column.

To add data, type it in as shown in Figure 1 and click Add to list. The row will be added to the ListView box above it. If you do add a birthday, then use the standard YYYYMMDD format. (While the birthday will not be formatted in the current list view, it will be in future versions when the age calculation function from the GrandKids app is added.)

Right-click on any row in the ListView to pop-up a menu (see Figure 2). The Edit option which puts the data into the editing field below for updating and Delete option which removes the entry are still available as they were in the To-Do List app. New options are Insert Address and Send E-mail.

Figure 2. Right-click on a row to pop-up a menu of options. Insert Address and Send E-mail are new options.

When Insert Address is selected the address information from the clicked row will be added to the last window open, as long as it is some form of editing program (word processor, Notepad, Web editing window, etc). Place the cursor at the location in the document where the address is to be added, open the loaded address book (CTRL+ALT+A or right-click on the AutoHotkey icon in the System Tray and select Show Address Book), then right-click on the desired address row and select Insert Address. The last window open will activate and add the formatted address at the previous location of the cursor (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. A formatted address is added to a Notepad window (twice).

If Send E-mail is selected from the right-click menu, then the default e-mail program will open, the full name (first name and last name), the e-mail address, a subject line and main text to the body (see Figure 4). This technique could be used to send standard pre-formatted e-mails to individuals in your address book.

Figure 4. The default e-mail program is opened and loaded with the data from the row clicked for the right-click menu item Send E-mail. (It looks like someone tried to open this e-mail by ripping off the right end of the envelope.)

Whatever data is inputted into Address Book is automatically saved in a text file named AddressBook.txt. The first line of the file is window position data saving the last location and size of the window with the remainder of the file in the Comma Separated Values (CSV) format (see Figure 5). This format which consists of text data enclosed in quote marks and separated by commas is used because it is a standard format available from (Export...) most other Windows programs.

Figure 5. The AddressBook.txt data file includes window location and size information in the first line with each entry in the CSV format.

In the future, using CSV files may make it easier to import address book data from applications such as your e-mail program.

Changes to the To-Do List Script for the New Address Book Script

Much of the final AddressBook.ahk script is almost identical to last week's ToDoList.ahk script. Changes were made to accommodate the addition of more columns, add the new Insert Address and Send E-mail options, and fix a couple of minor bugs. Also, a couple of new tips and AutoHotkey variable have been added where useful.

Adding Columns to ListView

The first step is adding more columns to ListView. This process is as simple as adding the names for each header to the Gui, Add, ListView command separated by the vertical line as shown:

Gui, Add, ListView, sort -ReadOnly r10 w700 vMyListView gMyListview , Last Name

| First Name | E-mail | Telephone | Street | City | State | Zip | Birthday

Each column will appear when the GUI is activated with the Gui, Show command as shown in Figure 1. This part is easy, but the addition of columns requires some special consideration and tools for manipulating the data. (Note that the line of code above has been split for display on this Web page with the second continuation line starting with the vertical line character, ( | ). As a reminder, to continue a line as if it were part of the preceding line in AutoHotkey scripts, the continuation portion must be preceded by a punctuation mark such as a comma ( , ), period ( . ), ampersand (&), or in this case the vertical line character ( | ). There are a couple more places in this column which have similar continuation splits.)

Loading the Data into ListView Columns

This first trick uses the StringSplit command to parse a line of text into its components and place the pieces into variables:

StringSplit, RowData, NewItem , `,

In this case, the data comes from the edit field (NewItem) at the bottom of the GUI window. Since the delimiter is a comma, the escape character ( ` ) must precede the comma at the end of the line of code. The data is saved in the variable array RowData. RowData0 contains the number of items found in the string. Then each variable (RowData1, RowData2, RowData3,…) is loaded with the consecutive data between the commas.

Next the LV_Add() function is used to place the row into the ListView window:

LV_Add("", Trim(RowData1), Trim(RowData2), Trim(RowData3), Trim(RowData4)

, Trim(RowData5), Trim(RowData6), Trim(RowData7), Trim(RowData8), Trim(RowData9))

As can be seen the variable is simply matched to the appropriate column. It's easy to see why missing commas could cause the data to fall into the wrong column. This line of code appears in the AddItem label and is used when adding new data.

In the same AddItem subroutine, the data must be returned to the proper row with the Update button using the LV_Modify() function:

LV_Modify(SelectedRow,"", RowData1, RowData2, RowData3, RowData4

, RowData5, RowData6, RowData7, RowData8, RowData9)

The variable SelectedRow (discussed below) is saved when Edit is selected from the right-click menu. This tells AutoHotkey in which row to replace the data which was also parsed by the same StringSplit command.

Editing Items in ListView

When AutoHotkey senses a right-click in a GUI, it launches the GuiContextMenu subroutine (if present) to display a menu, as described in the previous To-Do List columns. In those columns, we used SelectedRow := LV_GetNext() to capture the row number. However, there is a problem with locating this line in the GuiContextMenu subroutine. GuiContextMenu triggers each time there is a right-click, whether a selection is made from the menu or not. That means the value of SelectedRow can change on every right-click making the Update routine unreliable. Therefore the line of code is moved to the EditItem label thus only setting the value of SelectedRow when the Edit option is selected from the right-click menu:

EditItem:

SelectedRow := LV_GetNext()

GuiControl, ,Edit1, %EditText%

GuiControl, ,Button1, Update

Return

This has also been corrected in the current version of ToDoList.ahk available on the AutoHotkey Dropbox download site. Now another method is needed to determine which row has been clicked when capturing the row data.

Fortunately, there is an AutoHotkey variable called EventInfo which automatically saves the row number from a ListView whenever there is a right-click (or most other ListView mouse events). When used in GuiContextMenu with LV_GetText() (LV_GetText(ColText, A_EventInfo,1)), the variable EventInfo supplies the row number from the right-click event. Note: EventInfo cannot be used in the EditItem label because once GuiContextMenu returns the value of EventInfo defaults to zero.

The text contained in the multiple columns from the selected row needs to be sent to the edit field in one line with the commas added back in. This could be done in the EditItem subroutine, but I choose to do it in GuiContextMenu:

GuiContextMenu:  ; Launched in response to a right-click or press of the Apps key.

If A_GuiControl <> MyListView  ; Display the menu only for clicks inside the ListView.

Return

LV_GetText(ColText, A_EventInfo,1)

EditText := ColText

Loop 8

{

LV_GetText(ColText, A_EventInfo,A_Index+1)

EditText := EditText . "," . ColText

}

Menu, MyContextMenu, Show, %A_GuiX%, %A_GuiY%

Return

This way the same line of data is immediately available regardless of which menu item is selected. This saves repeating code in different subroutines.

The first column of data is pulled out separately from the loop (LV_GetText(ColText, A_EventInfo,1)) because there will be no comma preceding it. Again, EventInfo tells us which row is right-clicked. The variable EditText is initiated with the text from the first column (ColText). Next the loop runs for the eight remaining columns starting with the second column (A_Index+1). The text is captured from each column and concatenated (added) to the previous line of data (EditText := EditText . "," . ColText). Note that the comma is added before each new column of text. This line of data is then placed in the edit field when Edit is selected from the menu and the EditItem subroutine (shown above) is executed.

Saving the ListView Columns to the Data File (AddressBook.txt)

As discussed in the previous To-Do List app columns, the UpdateFile() function saves changes to the data file (in this case AddressBook.txt) whenever there is a change to the data or the app is closed. To account for the additional columns, the following is added to UpdateFile():

Loop % LV_GetCount()

{

RowNum := A_Index

Loop, 8

{

LV_GetText(Text, RowNum, A_Index)

TrimText := Trim(Text)

FileAppend, "%TrimText%"`,, AddressBook.txt

}

LV_GetText(Text, RowNum, 9)

TrimText := Trim(Text)

FileAppend, "%TrimText%"`n, AddressBook.txt

}

In this case the opposite approach is taken to saving a line of text. Rather than first adding a column then looping through the remaining eight columns, the first eight columns are added, then the last column is appended separately. This is merely for convenience when adding the quotes and commas in the CSV format. There are certainly many different ways to accomplish the same thing and if I didn't have a fixed number of columns I would use a conditional within the loop to prevent an extra comma from being added at the end.

Comma Separated Values (CSV) Files

The question is "What's the big deal about Comma Separated Values files?" First, it is a standard format which is relatively easy to manipulate if you have the right tools. AutoHotkey has the right tools. Second, files in CSV format can be pulled from (Export…) most programs that use data files. Third, since the format delimits with a comma surrounded by quotes, it's possible to place virtually any characters in the data, including commas, single quotes, and double quotes—all of which can cause problems in certain circumstances. Fourth, if you need to immediately distinguish numbers, a CSV file can distinguish number data by not surrounding them with with quote marks, only adding the comma delimiter between the values. This may be more important when starting work on the calorie counting app.

While it's not necessary to use the CSV format, the fact that it is a commonly used standard and is simple to implement may be reason enough to utilize it. If you understand how to work with CSV files then it will be that much easier when you decide to import data from or export data to your e-mail address book or an Excel spreadsheet with AutoHotkey. The next section is an example of reading a CSV file with AutoHotkey.

Reading the CSV File

When the Address Book app first loads, it reads the data file AddressBook.txt. First, the GUI window position and size is read, then each line of the file is parsed to insert into columns:

Loop, Parse, A_LoopReadLine , CSV

{

RowData%A_Index% := A_LoopField

}

LV_Add("", RowData1, RowData2, RowData3, RowData4

,RowData5, RowData6, RowData7, RowData8, RowData9)

The Loop, Parse command (Loop, Parse, A_LoopReadLine , CSV) is used with the A_LoopReadLine variable from within the main file reading loop (Loop, Read, AddressBook.txt—not shown here). This is yet another method for parsing a line of text—this time from a file. The CSV parameter at the end of that first line of code tells AutoHotkey that the data is in CSV format. As the loop progresses through the parsed line, the column data is saved in an array of variables (RowData1, RowData2, RowData3,…) by adding A_Index to the each variable name. Finally, The LV_Add() function is used to add a new row with the respective column data.

Send Address to Other Documents and Programs

Now that the data is in the ListView window, we can start adding useful features. First, the capability to add a complete address in envelope format is needed for inserting addresses in other documents. The menu item is added to the right-click menu:

Menu, MycontextMenu, Add, Insert Address, InsertItem

Then the label (subroutine) InsertItem is added to the script:

InsertItem:

StringSplit, RowData, EditText , `,

SendInput, !{Escape}

SendInput, %RowData2% %RowData1%`n%RowData5%`n%RowData6%

, %RowData7% %RowData8%`n`n

Return

Note that the same SplitString command (StringSplit, RowData, EditText , `,) now parses the string (into RowData1, RowData2, RowData3,…) stored in EditText when the row is right-clicked to bring up the menu.

While there are other ways to do it, this next line of SendInput code (SendInput, !{Escape}) is one of the simplest ways to jump back to the last active window—which is where you placed your cursor for inserting an address. ALT+ESCAPE (!{Escape}) is the Windows hotkey combination for jumping back one window. (You could also use ALT+TAB (!{Tab}) which will toggle back and forth between the last two windows.)

Next, send the data in the order and format you want. The RowDatax variables are placed in the order necessary (e.g. first name, RowData2, then last name, RowData1) with the appropriate linefeeds (`n) and commas with the SendInput command. The results are as seen in Figure 5 above.

Send an E-mail to Address Book Entry

Adding the e-mail feature is also straightforward after adding the option to the right-click menu:

Menu, MyContextMenu, Add, Send E-mail, EmailName

The EmailName subroutine parses the same data string and opens a "write an e-mail window" with the default e-mail program:

EmailName:

StringSplit, RowData, EditText , `,

Run, mailto:%RowData2% %RowData1%<%RowData3%>?subject=This is the subject line

&body=This is the message body's text.

Return

Again, the appropriate RowDatax variables are used with the MailTo parameter for the AutoHotkey Run command. Note how simple it is to change the subject and body parameters to standard messages.

Autosize All Columns

Dealing with the issue of sizing each column with either the longer of the column heading or the data length the following function was written to run each time data was updated:

SizeCols()

{

Loop, 9

{

LV_ModifyCol(A_Index,"AutoHdr")

}

}

Sort When Updating or Editing in ListView

One problem is that when an item is edited and updated from the edit field below the ListView or if Last Name is edited directly in the column, the list does not automatically resort itself. Add the following line of code at the appropriate spots and ListView will resort itself based upon the designate column:

LV_ModifyCol(1,"Sort")

This will keep the list in alphabetical order by last name unless a different column header is clicked. (Check the final script at the end of this column for the locations of LV_ModifyCol(1,"Sort").

How to Select All (CTRL+A) in ListView

If you want to Select All with CTRL+A as you can in Windows Explorer, add the following to the script:

#IfWinActive, Address Book

^a::LV_Modify(0,"Select")

#IfWinActive

AddressBookahk and AddressBook.exe Files

You can find the complete (so far) AddressBook.ahk AutoHotkey script and the compiled version AddressBook.ahk at the ComputorEdge AutoHotkey Dropbox site in the ZIP file AddressBook.zip. You can also find the complete code listing to see the code above in context or for copy-and-paste at the end of this column after the blatant advertising for my two AutoHotkey e-books.

*                    *                    *

Now available in e-book format from Amazon, Jack's A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey, Absolutely the Best Free Windows Utility Software Ever!: Create Power Tools for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Building Power Tools for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8, AutoHotkey is the most powerful, flexible, free Windows utility software available. Anyone can instantly add more of the functions that they want in all of their Windows programs, whether installed on their computer or while working on the Web. AutoHotkey has a universality not found in any other Windows utility—free or paid.

Based upon the series of articles in ComputorEdge, Jack takes you through his learning experience as he explores writing simple AutoHotkey scripts for adding repetitive text in any program or on the Web, running programs with special hotkeys or gadgets, manipulating the size and screen location of windows, making any window always-on-top, copying and moving files, and much more. Each chapter builds on the previous chapters.

For an EPUB (iPad, NOOK, etc.) version of A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey click here!

*                    *                    *

Jack's latest AutoHotkey book which is comprised of updated, reorganized and indexed columns from the last six months is now available at Amazon for Kindle hardware (or free software) users. Since the columns were not all written in a linear fashion, the book has been reorganized and broken up into parts by topic. The book is not for the complete beginner since it builds on the information in A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey. However, if a person is reasonably computer literate, they could go directly to this book for ideas and techniques without the first book.

If you've been following along with my AutoHotkey columns, then there is little new information in the book (although I have added more clarification for techniques I felt were either confusing or wrong). The only reason I can see to buy it would be as a handy reference. The AutoHotkey commands used are included in a special index to the chapters in which they appear. Even I can't remember everything I wrote.

For an EPUB (iPad, NOOK, etc.) version of Digging Deeper into AutoHotkey click here!

*                    *                    *

AddressBook.ahk Script (Copy-and-Paste)

OnExit, UpdateFile

SelectedRow := 0

Gui +AlwaysOnTop +Resize

Gui, Add, ListView, sort -ReadOnly r10 w700 vMyListView gMyListview, Last Name

| First Name | E-mail | Telephone | Street | City | State | Zip | Birthday

Gui, Add, Button, section gAddItem,Add to list:

Gui, Add, Edit, w580 ys vNewItem, <Enter New Item Here>

IfExist, AddressBook.txt

{

Loop, Read, AddressBook.txt

{

If (A_index = 1 and SubStr(A_LoopReadLine, 1, 1) = "x")

{

WinPos := A_LoopReadLine

Continue

}

Else

{

Loop, Parse, A_LoopReadLine , CSV

{

RowData%A_Index% := A_LoopField

}

LV_Add("", RowData1,RowData2,RowData3,RowData4

,RowData5,RowData6,RowData7,RowData8,RowData9)

}

}

}

SizeCols()

Menu, MycontextMenu, Add, Insert Address, InsertItem

Menu, MyContextMenu, Add, Send E-mail, EmailName

Menu, MyContextMenu, Add, Edit, EditItem

Menu, MyContextMenu, Add, Delete, DeleteItem

Menu, Tray, Add, Show Address Book, ShowAddressBook

IfExist, AddressBook.txt

{

Gui, Show, %WinPos% , Address Book

}

Else

{

WinGetPos,X1,Y1,W1,H1,Program Manager

X2 := W1-800

Gui, Show, x%x2% y50 , Address Book

}

Hotkey, ^!a, ShowAddressBook

Return

ShowAddressBook:

Gui, Show,, Address Book

Return

MyListView:

If A_GuiEvent = e

LV_ModifyCol(1,"Sort")

UpdateFile()

Return

GuiContextMenu:  ; Launched in response to a right-click or press of the Apps key.

if A_GuiControl <> MyListView  ; Display the menu only for clicks inside the ListView.

Return

LV_GetText(ColText, A_EventInfo,1)

EditText := ColText

Loop 8

{

LV_GetText(ColText, A_EventInfo,A_Index+1)

EditText := EditText . "," . ColText

}

Menu, MyContextMenu, Show, %A_GuiX%, %A_GuiY%

return

InsertItem:

StringSplit, RowData, EditText , `,

SendInput, !{Escape}

SendInput, %RowData2% %RowData1%`n%RowData5%`n%RowData6%, %RowData7% %RowData8%`n`n

Return

EmailName:

StringSplit, RowData, EditText , `,

Run, mailto:%RowData2% %RowData1%<%RowData3%>?subject=This is the subject line

&body=This is the message body's text.

Return

DeleteItem:

RowNumber = 0  ; This causes the first iteration to start the search at the top.

Loop

{

; Since deleting a row reduces the RowNumber of all other rows beneath it,

; subtract 1 so that the search includes the same row number that was previously

; found (in case adjacent rows are selected):

RowNumber := LV_GetNext(RowNumber - 1)

if not RowNumber  ; The above returned zero, so there are no more selected rows.

break

LV_Delete(RowNumber)  ; Clear the row from the ListView.

}

UpdateFile()

Return

AddItem:

Gui, Submit, NoHide

NewItem := NewItem . ",,,,,,,,"  ; This clears old data from unassigned variables

StringSplit, RowData, NewItem , `,

If SelectedRow = 0

{

LV_Add("", Trim(RowData1),Trim(RowData2),Trim(RowData3),Trim(RowData4)

,Trim(RowData5),Trim(RowData6),Trim(RowData7),Trim(RowData8), Trim(RowData9))

}

else

{

LV_Modify(SelectedRow,"", RowData1,RowData2,RowData3,RowData4

,RowData5,RowData6,RowData7,RowData8,RowData9)

LV_ModifyCol(1,"Sort")

SelectedRow := 0

GuiControl, ,Button1, Add to list

}

SizeCols()

UpdateFile()

Return

EditItem:

SelectedRow := LV_GetNext()

GuiControl, ,Edit1, %EditText%

GuiControl, ,Button1, Update

Return

UpdateFile:

DetectHiddenWindows On

UpdateFile()

ExitApp

Return

GuiSize:  ; Expand or shrink the ListView in response to the user's resizing of the window.

if A_EventInfo = 1  ; The window has been minimized.  No action needed.

return

; Otherwise, the window has been resized or maximized. Resize the ListView to match.

GuiControl, Move, MyListView, % "W" . (A_GuiWidth - 20) . " H" . (A_GuiHeight - 40)

GuiControl, Move, Button1, % "y" . (A_GuiHeight - 30)

GuiControl, Move, Edit1, % "y" . (A_GuiHeight - 30) . "W" . (A_GuiWidth - 90)

Return

UpdateFile()

{

FileDelete, AddressBook.txt

WinGetPos, X, Y, Width, Height, Address Book

Width -= 16

Height -= 38

FileAppend, x%x% y%y% w%Width% h%Height% `n, AddressBook.txt

Loop % LV_GetCount()

{

RowNum := A_Index

Loop, 8

{

LV_GetText(Text, RowNum, A_Index)

TrimText := Trim(Text)

FileAppend, "%TrimText%"`,, AddressBook.txt

}

LV_GetText(Text, RowNum, 9)

TrimText := Trim(Text)

FileAppend, "%TrimText%"`n, AddressBook.txt

}

}

SizeCols()

{

Loop, 9

{

LV_ModifyCol(A_Index,"AutoHdr")

}

}

#IfWinActive, Address Book ; CTRL+A to Select All

^a::LV_Modify(0,"Select")

#IfWinActive

Jack is the publisher of ComputorEdge Magazine. He's been with the magazine since first issue on May 16, 1983. Back then, it was called The Byte Buyer. His Web site is www.computoredge.com. He can be reached at ceeditor@computoredge.com. Jack is now in the process of updating and compiling his hundreds of articles and columns into e-books. Currently available:

Just Released! Hidden Windows Tools for Protecting, Problem Solving and Troubleshooting Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP Computers.

Jack's A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey, Absolutely the Best Free Windows Utility Software Ever!: Create Power Tools for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 and Digging Deeper Into AutoHotkey.

Our second compilation of stupid ComputorEdge cartoons from 2011 and 2012 is now available at Amazon! That Does Not Compute, Too! ComputorEdge Cartoons, Volume II: "Do You Like Windows 8 or Would You Prefer an Apple?"

Currently only at Amazon.com, Jack's Favorite Free Windows Programs: What They Are, What They Do, and How to Get Started!.

Available from Amazon, Misunderstanding Windows 8: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Windows 8! Also available at Barnes and Noble and ComputorEdge E-Books.

Available exclusively from Amazon, Windows 7 Secrets Four-in-One E-Book Bundle,

Getting Started with Windows 7: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Using Windows 7,

Sticking with Windows XP—or Not? Why You Should or Why You Should Not Upgrade to Windows 7,

and That Does Not Compute!, brilliantly drawn cartoons by Jim Whiting for really stupid gags by Jack about computers and the people who use them.

Wally Wang's Apple Farm

“The Insanity of Advertising”
by Wally Wang

The Insanity of Advertising; The iPhone Saves T-Mobile; The Death of Bento; Getting Ready for iOS 7; Measuring with an iPhone or iPad; 3D Printers at UPS Stores in San Diego; Update Your Router's Firmware.

The purpose of advertising is to sell products or services, yet in many cases, ad agencies come up with creative advertising campaigns that wind up spending a lot of money while failing to increase sales. The big problem is that companies don't hold their advertising campaigns accountable. Companies need to track how effective their advertising increases their sales. If advertising fails to increase sales, then the advertising isn't working so they need to stop spending money on it.

This simple fact gets overlooked all the time. When Hewlett-Packard tried to market their TouchPad tablet, they hired comedian Russell Brand. The idea was to attract attention to the TouchPad, but why bother spending that much money on a gamble when Hewlett-Packard could have just spent that money creating a product that solved a pressing need in the first place? Too often, companies think if they spend more on advertising, they can buy their way to increased sales, but it rarely works.

At one time, HTC used to sell a large number of mobile phones before Samsung and Apple took over the market. HTC's solution was to spend $12 million dollars to get Robert Downey Jr. to endorse their smartphones. Is anyone really going to buy a mobile phone because a celebrity endorses it? Such endorsements might draw attention to the product, but ultimately the product has to sell itself. Will Robert Downey Jr.'s endorsement sell at least $12 million dollars worth of mobile phones? If not, then the advertising campaign is just money down the drain.

More importantly, is anyone measuring the results of Robert Downey Jr.'s appearances in HTC's ads to see if his ads directly increase sales over HTC's other ads that don't feature Robert Downey Jr.? Most likely the answer is no. HTC is probably just spending lots of money in the mistaken belief that spending more on advertising will magically translate into increased sales. Such wishful thinking can never succeed over careful planning, tracking, and measuring of the cost of advertising to determine whether it increases sales or not.

Spending a lot of money without tracking the results is known as image marketing, where you spend a lot of money and hope that your image will draw people into buying products or services from you.

On the other hand, there's direct marketing, which is what mail-order companies use and what many Internet retailers use. The idea behind direct marketing is that your advertising must ask for a sale right away. If people don't buy enough products to justify the cost of the advertising, then the ad either needs to be dumped or changed.

Direct marketers never know how well their ads work, so rather than spending millions on celebrity endorsements that may or may not increase sales, direct marketers start small and constantly test their results. They'll create an ad and spend a little money putting it out in front of the public. Then they measure the results.

Whatever the results, they'll change one part of the ad and run both in different groups of people. When they find the ad that pulls in more sales than the other, they'll keep that ad, tweak it slightly, then put both ads on the market again. In this way, direct marketers risk only losing a little money but in the process, they gradually learn how to make their ads more effective in directly generating more sales. By the time direct marketers finally spend a lot of money, they'll be using it with an ad they've tested, tweaked, and modified over time until it consistently and reliably generates enough sales to pay for itself and generate massive amounts of sales.

As a result, direct marketers create ads that pay for themselves and generate profits. Image marketers create ads that cost a lot of money without knowing whether it's ever going to pay for itself at all.

One reason why Microsoft's ads often fail is because they rely on image marketing where they hope that dancing people playing with a Surface tablet will somehow magically convince people to rush out and buy a Surface tablet. After spending $898 million promoting Windows 8 and their Surface tablets, Microsoft only wound up making $853 million on Surface tablet sales in return. If Microsoft had just spent much less, they could have learned that their advertising was ineffective or that their products weren't meeting the needs of their customers. Instead, Microsoft simply spent a lot of money on advertising under the mistaken belief that more advertising will generate more sales.

To learn how direct marketing works, read a book like No B.S. Direct Marketing, written by noted direct marketing expert Dan Kennedy, who writes in a gruff, no nonsense, straightforward style. One problem with many of Dan Kennedy's books is that they're often co-written by other authors and often seem like an ad for Dan Kennedy's other services and products.

Nevertheless, you can still find useful nuggets of information about direct marketing in his book. Basically the differences boil down to this:

• Direct marketing spends as little money as possible on ads initially. Image marketing spends as much money as possible on ads initially.

• Direct marketing must generate sales that can be directly attributed to the ads. Image marketing never measures whether their ads generate sales or not.

• Direct marketing constantly tests their ads and keeps changing it until it's proven to generate the maximum amount of sales possible. Image marketing creates an ad once and never bothers to change it afterwards because it never measures the effectiveness of the ads.

• Direct marketing explains how a particular product or service will benefit the customer. Image marketing tries to make a product or service look "cool" without bothering to identify any possible benefits.

Direct marketing just makes sense. Start small, test, and keep measuring the effectiveness of your ads. Image advertising makes no sense. Spend a lot of money and hope for the best. Hope is never a strategy compared to deliberate planning.

If you need to advertise a product or service, focus on direct marketing techniques so you only risk losing a little money while increasing your chances of creating an ad that actually generates sales. Direct marketing focuses on a product's features and explains how those features can benefit the customer. Image marketing focuses on trying to make a product look good without showing why anyone would want that product in the first place, such as Microsoft's dancing Surface tablet ads.

If you don't mind throwing away millions on pointless ads that won't increase sales, stick with image marketing and waste money. Just mimic what companies like Microsoft, HTC, and Hewlett-Packard do with their advertising budget and be prepared to throw away lots of money with little results in return. Then scratch your head in confusion and decide that you need to spend even more money on ads that don't work. When you run out of money, then you can figure out what you did wrong.

The iPhone Saves T-Mobile

Initially, AT&T attracted a huge amount of subscribers simply by being the only carrier in the United States that offered the iPhone. Then Verizon offered the iPhone to keep from losing subscribers and Sprint followed close behind. Finally, T-Mobile became the last of the four major carriers to offer the iPhone, and according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), between 300,000 and 400,000 current T-Mobile customers would have left the company for other providers because they wanted an iPhone.

Now that T-Mobile has stopped hemorrhaging customers, they can start adding new ones who will likely defect from AT&T's spotty service or Verizon and Sprint's higher prices. For a single mobile phone to determine the popularity of a carrier is amazing as no other mobile phone has affected carriers as dramatically.

Blackberry tried to get everyone excited with their new Blackberry phones, but most people don't really care. Nokia is trying to get people interested in Windows Phone 7 phones, but none of the carriers report customers switching to a rival carrier because they want a Nokia Windows Phone 7 phone.

T-Mobile's only chance for growth is to steal customers away from their competitors. That means offering lower prices and better service. If T-Mobile can't offer anything more compelling than their competitors, even the iPhone may not be enough to save the company from struggling against AT&T and Verizon.

The Death of Bento

Apple's wholly-owned subsidiary, FileMaker, recently announced that their discontinuing their Bento database program. Bento tried to be a low-cost, simple database for general use. Unfortunately, Bento often wound up being too cumbersome to customize easily and too underpowered for advanced users. By alienating both novices and advanced users, Bento satisfied few people.

If you want more database power, FileMaker hopes you'll just switch to FileMaker Pro. If FileMaker Pro seems too powerful and complicated, you can try simpler databases like the free database that comes with LibreOffice or the specialized databases that come with every Macintosh such as Contacts and Calendar. If you want a free programmable database, try Firebird.

At one time, general purpose databases were popular. Nowadays, the database market seems divided into power and sophistication through programmable databases like FileMaker Pro or Microsoft Access, or specialized databases that do one type of task like genealogy programs or coin collecting software.

Bento wasn't a popular program so its loss won't be missed. If you're using Bento, be prepared to move your data to another database eventually. In the meantime, you can keep using Bento until the time comes when you need to switch database programs. Switching to a new program or even a new version of the same program inevitably means relearning how to use the software again, so be ready to change or just keep using what you already know for as long as possible.

Getting Ready for iOS 7

When Apple releases iOS 7 this fall with new versions of the iPhone and iPad, expect a lot of changes. Beyond the cosmetic changes in iOS 7, developers are ready to flood the market with iOS 7-specific apps according to this developer survey on a site called Furbo.

First of all, over 95% of developers plan to update their current apps for iOS 7. Secondly, 52% of developers say they'll write iOS 7-only apps, most likely to take advantage of the new features in iOS 7. That means if you don't upgrade (or can't upgrade) to iOS 7, you'll soon see a flurry of new and updated apps that you can't use.

Figure 1. Developers plan to support iOS 7.

Fortunately, iOS 7 will still run on older iPhone and iPad models, but if you have a really old model, such as an iPhone 3GS or the original iPad, you may not be able to upgrade to iOS 7.

Since iOS 7 is the future, you can either stick with your current iPhone or iPad to upgrade at a later time, or you can upgrade now to take advantage of the flood of new iOS 7 apps likely to arrive this fall. In most cases, you'll likely benefit from upgrading to iOS 7 or a new device that can run iOS 7, but if you're happy with your current technology, there's no reason to change just for the sake of change. After all, look how many happy Windows XP users are still around, which still greatly outnumbers the number of happy Vista or Windows 8 users on the planet.

Measuring with an iPhone or iPad

Many people use the Maps app on their iPhone or iPad to look up directions, but with the Measure Map app you can now measure distances on your map as well. Measuring can come in handy in case you want to know the shortest distance between two locations when faced with a choice of multiple routes.

Figure 2. Measure Map can turn your iPhone or iPad into an accurate measuring tool.

Besides measuring traveling distances, Measure Map can also measure areas on a map. If you're interested in buying real estate, look at a map of the property you want to buy and use Measure Maps to determine its actual size. Measure the distance from potential property to nearby freeways or public transportation routes.

An app like Measure Map demonstrates yet another useful application for mobile computing. Although the idea of measuring distances and areas could also be done with a regular desktop computer, it's a handy application to have on a mobile device. With unusual apps like Measure Maps available, you can see why the iOS software library is one of the most attractive features of iOS over rival mobile operating systems.

In the old days, people bought Windows PCs because of the huge Windows software library available. Nowadays, people can use that reasoning to buy iOS devices because of the huge iOS software library. While Android is catching up, other operating systems like Blackberry OS, Windows RT, and Windows Phone 7 lag farther behind. For many people, getting an iOS device just guarantees that they'll have access to the software they might need. If you bought a Windows PC just for the Windows software library, you should use the same reasoning to buy an iPhone or an iPad.

3D Printers at UPS Stores in San Diego

3D printers will make a huge impact on the world with the ability to create plastic, metal, wood, and even living organisms. While the first use for 3D printers may be simple, such as creating toys or iPhone cases, 3D printing will only continue growing in capability and declining in cost. 3D printing promises to bring sophisticated manufacturing down to the masses, which means you no longer need a huge factory to create products any more. Just design your item, send it digitally to someone else, and that person can use a 3D printer to create your design.

Just as e-mail killed the letter carrying business of the post office, 3D printing promises to kill the package shipping business of delivery services like Federal Express and UPS. Anticipating this future crisis, UPS is currently testing 3D printers in six of their UPS stores in San Diego.

By offering high-end (expensive) 3D printers to the public, UPS hopes to provide a unique 3D printing service for small businesses unable to afford the cost of a sophisticated 3D printer of their own. Eventually the capabilities of UPS's $20,900 Stratsys 3D printers will come down to the masses, but until then, UPS hopes to learn what people will need a 3D printer for so they can possibly offer the best 3D printers that consumers can't afford, and ship items digitally instead of physically.

Right now Federal Express prides itself on delivering packages overnight. With 3D printing, UPS could deliver items in seconds anywhere around the world. Then the local UPS Store can print that item out on their high-end 3D printer before delivering it to its final destination so you could get same day service in every major city in the world.

The world of 3D printing will only continue getting more exciting with each new generation of 3D printers. Watch UPS's 3D printing experiment to see if they launch it nationwide, or at least in other cities. Even if UPS's 3D printing experiment fails, you can bet that 3D printing will continue growing in popularity anyway. Unless, of course, you think that 3D printers can't possibly succeed because they can't exactly duplicate all the features of an ancient daisy wheel printer.

*                    *                    *

If you have a wireless router at home or at work, you need to keep it updated with the latest firmware patches just like you need to keep your operating system updated with the latest security patches. To update an Apple AirPort router, open the Applications folder and then open the Utilities folder. Double-click on the AirPort Utility program and type in your router's password.

The AirPort Utility window displays an Update button (to update the router's firmware) and an Edit button (to modify the AirPort router's settings). Updating your router might not seem like the most exciting task, but with security problems occurring all the time through router flaws, just updating your AirPort router's firmware or modifying its settings can give you an extra bit of security.

Figure 3. Updating an AirPort router.

In the early days, before Wally became an Internationally renowned comedian, computer book writer, and generally cool guy, Wally Wang used to hang around The Byte Buyer dangling participles with Jack Dunning and go to the gym to pump iron with Dan Gookin.

Wally is responsible for the following books:

My New Mac, Lion Edition

My New iPad 2

Steal This Computer Book

Microsoft Office 2010 For Dummies

Beginning Programming for Dummies

Beginning Programming All-in-One Reference for Dummies

Breaking Into Acting for Dummies with Larry Garrison

Strategic Entrepreneurism with Jon and Gerald Fisher

How to Live with a Cat (When You Really Don't Want To)

The Secrets of the Wall Street Stock Traders

Mac Programming For Absolute Beginners

Republican Fairy Tales (Children's Stories the 1% Tell About the Rest of Us)

The Zen of Effortless Selling with Moe Abdou

The 15-Minute Movie Method

Erotophobia (A novel)

In his spare time, Wally likes blogging about movies and writing screenplays at his site "The 15 Minute Movie Method." Wally can be reached at wally@computoredge.com.

Beyond Personal Computing: Genealogy

“Genealogy: Do You Really Want to Know What Your Ancestors Were up to?”
by Marilyn K. Martin

Amusing anecdotes about genealogy

"Genealogy: Tracing yourself back to better people."

More and more people are researching their ancestors through genealogy. Until recently, with records now uploaded to the Internet, it was a time-consuming activity searching through dusty books, and hand-cranking through rolls of microfilm in special library rooms.

To add insult to injury, early census takers just went up one street and down the next, so nothing was alphabetized. And there were European immigration entry points in the early US from Ellis Island, New York to Galveston, Texas. And if Arrival Lists even survived, the in-take officials frequently just wrote down foreign names as "sounds like," especially if the foreigner didn't speak English. So you could have a surname (last name) spelled a dozen different ways in the same family line.

So why do we want to know about long-dead relatives we only glimpse through stark, unsmiling photos, and war-dead files? Do we hope to be related to someone famous? Do we hope some ancestor participated in some famous event? Or do we just want to know where our green eyes or "congenitally missing wisdom teeth" came from?

So What's Genealogy Good for Anyway?

Glad you asked, because our Slacker Sages at Cracked Magazine have the answers!

1) Genealogy started in the Middle Ages, when nobles needed to keep their lineage tidy so their "official" children could keep the land and titles in the family.

2) "Unofficial" children usually got little more than bragging rights, with even their surname frequently in dispute.

3) The Mormons have the most extensive library for genealogy in the US. With polygamy once in style, the Mormons needed to keep track of each family with thirty kids, to avoid accidental incest and the resultant birth defects.

4) The US National Archives has lots of online records too, mainly lists (like Census and Immigration Records). Most requested? Military Service Records.

Actual Letters Requesting Help from Historical Groups

Dealing with different verb tenses when talking about dead ancestors can be tricky. As well as trying to explain everything you know about an ancestor in one sentence. But these amateur genealogists gave it the ole' college try!

"Our 2nd great grandfather was found dead crossing the plains in the library. He was married 3 times in the endowment house and has 21 children."

"He and his daughter are listed as not being born."

"My Grandfather died at the age of 3."

"We are sending you 5 children in a separate envelope."

"Family Bible in possession of Aunt Merle until the tornado hit Topeka, Kansas. Now only the Good Lord knows where it is."

"The wife of #22 could not be found. Somebody suggested that she might have been stillborn. What do you think?"

"I am mailing you my aunt and uncle and 3 of their children."

"We lost our Grandmothers, will you please send us a copy?"

"Will you please send me the name of my first wife? I have forgotten her name."

"I do not want you to do my research for me. Will you please send me all of the material on the Welch line, in the US, England and Scotland countries? I will do the research."

You Know You Are a Genealogy Addict When:

1) You brake for libraries.

2) You hyperventilate at the sight of an old cemetery.

3) You would rather browse in a cemetery than a shopping mall.

4) You would rather read census schedules than a good book.

5) You are more interested in what happened in 1613 than 2013.

6) Eenrum, Baflo and Groningen are household names, but you can't remember what to call the dog.

7) You store your clothes under the bed, because your closet is full of books, papers and CDs of lists.

8) All your correspondence begins "Dear Cousin."

9) You have traced every one of your ancestral lines back to Adam and Eve, you have it all documented—and you still don't want to quit.

10) Your most important social life is meeting people who you run into while researching a family line.

Genealogy Wisdom

"My family coat-of-arms ties in the back. Is that normal?"

"If only ancestors came with a pull-down menu and online help site."

"Genealogists are Time Unravelers."

"Cousins marrying cousins: A non-branching family tree."

"It's an unusual family tree that hath neither a lady-of-the-evening nor a thief."

"My hobby is genealogy. I raise dust bunnies as pets."

"Every family tree produces some lemons, some nuts and a few bad apples."

"Time for dinner. Everyone out of the gene pool!"

Of Ancestors and Heroes

At the local Veterans Hospital, three old timers had run out of stories about their own heroic exploits, and started bragging about their ancestors:

"My great grandfather, at age 13, was a drummer boy at Shiloh in the Civil War," said the first.

"Mine went down with Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn," said the second.

"I'm the only soldier in my family," said the third. "But if my great grandfather was still living, he'd be the most famous man in the world."

"What did he do?" the other Vets asked.

"Nothing," the Vet replied. "But if he was still alive, he'd be 165 years old."

How Genealogists View Their Current Family

"Infertility is hereditary. If your parents didn't have any children, neither will you."

"Never mind the children. Do you know where your great-great-great grandparents are tonight?"

"A family reunion is an effective form of birth control."

"Heredity: Everyone believes in it until their children act like idiots."

Graveyard Epitaphs

To some relatives of the deceased, humor takes precedence on grave markers. Either that, or the relatives can't wait to divide up their inheritance, which translates as "joy" that Grandpa's finally in the ground!

"Here lies Lester Moore / Four slugs from a .44 / No Les No More"

(Lester Moore was a Wells Fargo station agent, and obviously lost a gun-fight. He's buried with this epitaph in Boot Hill Cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona.)

"Oh cruel death / To satisfy the palate / Cut down our Lettuce / To make a salad"

(In memory of Lettuce Manning.)

"When people's ills, they come to I / I physics, bleeds, and sweates' em / Sometimes they live, sometimes they die / What's that to I?"

(Self-written epitaph by a quack, or faux-physician.)

"Stranger! Approach this spot with gravity. / John Brown is filling his last cavity."

(Epitaph to a Dentist.)

"Here lies the body of dead Anna / gone to death by a banana / It wasn't the fruit that dealt the blow / But the skin of the thing that laid her low!"

(Grave marker in Enosburg Falls, Vermont.)

"Here lies / Ezekial Aikle / Age 102 / The Good / Die Young"

(Grave marker in East Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia, Canada.)

"Here lies Ann Mann / Who lived an old maid / But died an old Mann / Dec. 8, 1767"

(Grave marker in London, England.)

"He was a humanitarian / He loved his mother-in-law."

(Grave marker in Elgin County, Ontario, Canada.)

"To follow you I'd be quite content / If I only knew which way you went. / Have fun Sunshine"

(Grave marker in Ireland.)

Grave Marker: Widow Looking for Replacement

"Sacred to the memory of / my husband John Barnes / who died January 13, 1803 / His comely young widow, aged 23 has / many qualifications of a good wife, and / yearns to be comforted."

Quotes for Genealogists

"Genealogy is not fatal, but it is a grave disease."

"Genealogists never die, they just lose their census."

"Whenever there's a will, you'll see an heir loom."

"I can say with great certainty that half my ancestors were women."

Ten Signs You Are a Geneaholic

10) You introduce your daughter as your "descendent."

9) You've never met any of the people you exchange e-mail with, even though you're related.

8) You can recite your lineage back eight generations, but can't remember your nephew's name.

7) You have more photographs of dead people than of the living.

6) You take a tape recorder and/or laptop to family reunions.

5) You've not only read the latest GEDCOM standard, but you also understand it.

4) The local genealogy society borrows books from you.

3) The only film you've seen in the last year was the 1880 census index.

2) More than half of your CD collection is made up of marriage records or pedigrees.

1) Your most elusive ancestor has been spotted in more different places than Elvis!

Unofficial Children

Delicately called Children of Missing Fathers, or Illegitimates, "ancestral bastards" in your family tree can be extremely difficult to find and trace.

1) In the US and England, parish or church records usually recorded births to unmarried couples, calling the child "base born," "natural," or "bastard." Other terms used were "spurious," "imputed," "misbegotten," "ignotus" (Latin for unknown), "fulius populi" (unidentified local man/father), or "filius mullius" (stranger or unknown man/father).

2) If the illegitimate child was "reputed" to be the child of Mr. X, it meant that the father admitted it was his child, or it had been proven so. An "imputed" child meant Mr. Y wouldn't admit the child was his, but the mother insisted that Mr. Y was the father.

3) For the wealthy in the Middle Ages, illegitimate children were given two surnames, from both father and mother. If the parents eventually married, the child's last surname, from his mother, could be dropped.

4) For poor families, illegitimate children were given two surnames if it was unknown who the true father was.

5) In Hispanic records, an illegitimate son could be called a "hijo natural" (natural son). Or "hijo de" or "hijo legitimo de" which suggested a parental irregularity.

6) In Italy, a bastard child could be given the surname Proietti (cast out), Trovato (foundling), D'Ignoti (unknown) or Esposito (Latin for "of this place").

7) In Quebec, Canada, illegitimate children were usually given the surname Inconnu (unknown).

8) Some illegitimate children were actually born to married couples, but whoever recorded the birth didn't recognize the marriage. A couple could be married by a church, but not be recognized as married by the state. Or a couple could have a civil marriage that the church didn't recognize.

9) For many years in England, only a marriage in the Anglican Church was considered a valid marriage. Also, if a British widower married his deceased wife's sister, the marriage was not considered valid, and the children were thus illegitimate.

10) Ignoring subtlety, some illegitimate children were given surnames like Le Bastard, or Child-Villiers (child of Mr. Villiers). In the US, there was even a surname called Bastard-child.

High-Tech Genealogy

Ancestory.com has long been a subscription site for genealogy study, but it can cost several hundred dollars a year. Some local libraries with genealogy sections subscribe to Ancestory.com, however, and you can use it free from their library computers. There are also software packages available today for building your family tree, ranging in price from $20 to $119.

DNA Testing is also relatively new. Today it is used most frequently by state children's services to determine paternity, or to solve cold case crimes. But private DNA testing for individuals is also available, although it can cost up to hundreds of dollars. Fortunately, the best rated personal DNA Test (23 and Me) is only $99.

(Many of these jokes and amusing anecdotes can be found on multiple Internet sites. But special thanks to Genealogy.about.com, JokeBuddha.com, AllFamilyTree.com, and Cracked.com.)

Marilyn is a freelance writer and humorist, with a special interest (besides computers and technology) in Science Fiction. Besides short stories published in various magazines, she also has some new e-books available on Amazon Kindle: Hunting Monster Aliens is an on-going series of novellas, about a wise-cracking team of ghost investigators who occasionally turn into alien-monster hunters. Culture Crash! A California Yankee Transplanted to Texas is a collection of humor essays chronicling her adventures in her new home-state.

ComputorEdge E-Books has converted many of Marilyn's computer humor columns into four e-books.

Now available in a four-book Kindle bundle from Amazon.com The Best Computer and Internet Humor, Anecdotes, and Jokes Found on the Web. Marilyn's collection of the funniest stories about our computing machines and how we use them at home, the office, and in cyber space. Save 25% off the individual book price!

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

“Computer and Internet tips, plus comments on the articles and columns.”
by ComputorEdge Staff

"Negative Zero," "Drives and Backups Windows Explorer Mystery," "Power Outage Problems for M. Morgan," "System and File Backups"

Negative Zero

[Regarding the July 26 Beyond Personal Computing column:]

A discussion of Zero in a computer newsletter ought to mention the existence of Negative Zero. The current IEEE floating point standard appears to allow for it. But more interestingly, many years ago some computers stored numbers as either one's complement, or else as a sign bit plus magnitude. Either of those architectures can produce a negative zero. Rumor has it that people occasionally got bills for -0.00 dollars and insisted on immediate payment.

-Jack Hummer, Escondido, CA

Jack -

Thanks for your post. I didn't find anything in my research on a Negative or Signed Zero. It was basically a humor column, anyway, so I added bits and pieces from a lot of sources. But here's an explanation of a Negative Zero: Signed Zero.

-Marilyn K. Martin, Texas

Drives and Backups + Windows Explorer Mystery

[Regarding the July 26 Digital Dave column:]

FAT32 drive size limit 2 GB. The backup that comes with Windows will only back up the system drive "C:\".

I take lots of photos—some are too dark. So I use an online photo editor to adjust brightness and contrast. I save it by adding "a" to *.jpg. Last month everything worked fine. This month saved files remain hidden. When I used Explorer's search it found them along with the original. I right-clicked and clicked properties and there was a new message "file from another PC may harm your PC is locked" I unchecked the box and that statement disappears, but the file is not listed. The latest update from MS apparently fixes that! Those bone head updates from MS. I never heard of an image file damaging a PC!

-Walter, San Diego, CA

Power Outage Problems for M. Morgan

[Regarding the July 26 Digital Dave column:]

"New tabs in Internet Explorer won't stay set to go to my home page, but keep reverting back to blank."

Just F.Y.I.—I haven't had a problem with a power outage and have the same problem with opening a new tab to a dedicated page. (Windows 7- 64 too.) I've tried to set my computer to go to my homepage, but like Maxine Morgan of Ekalaka, MT, the tabs just go to blank. This started weeks ago and I think Microsoft just screwed up with one of their "Updates." And, continual problems using Internet Explorer in relation to Google programs, such as Gmail.

Good luck!

-Jerry Michael Hughes, San Diego, CA

System and File Backups

[Regarding the July 26 Digital Dave column:]

I always recommend folks buy a Seagate (or Maxtor since now owned by Seagate) external/USB/backup drive. (Unless their internal drive is already a Seagate, then you can use any backup drive). I do this as Seagate has a program, Discwizard, available for download (not included on the drive) that is a proprietary version of Acronis' imaging software that will only run if you have a Seagate drive in the system you're using it on.

Advantage of this is you can make an image of the system all configured and running right for you, and it compresses that image into a file or files (can size for DVD archiving easier that way). For those who aren't aware, an image backup takes a "picture" of your system just as it is, and saves it. So, unlike standard backup programs that just save your files/data, if your system's hard drive crashed, or you got malware that just can't be gotten rid of absolutely (generally you can not guarantee any virus/malware is totally gone from a system without full reinstall), you can run the restore option, either from the program, or from a bootable CD you make with the same software, restore the data (quite quick, actually), and when you reboot, your system is exactly like it was when you did the image backup.

You still need regular data files backup, but the Seagate drives come with Seagate Manager that does that, and/or use an online service like Mozy or Carbonite. Or use the Windows backup (I've not used it for a long time, need to check it out on Windows 7 and 8 for my own knowledge).

I tell folks to do an image backup any time you do a major change to your system, upgrade Office, add large software package, or just after 6 months to a year. It's quite quick and easy. I believe, but haven't used it, you can make an "incremental" image backup as well to save more time that just saves changes since the last full image backup.

Works fantastically.

-Rich Ernst, San Diego, CA

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